Turning Time into Results is a Three-Step Process

by Jeffrey Combs

Step 1: Stating Your Mission

It is imperative that you create a mission and vision statement. If you don’t know where you are going, how are you going to get there? This step tells you what is most important. The purpose of your mission statement is to remind you of the values your enterprise is built on. Since time is your most valuable commodity, your time must be spent in effort in line with your values. This will assist you in turning time into results, i.e., prospecting, recruiting, teaching, training, developing leaders, growth, change and letting go simultaneously. You’ll also begin to enjoy the process. This is why it is important that you have a well-defined mission and vision for your enterprise. If you don’t have a mission and vision statement yet, do it now. Once you have a clear picture of how you plan to create value for your customers and associates, and you know where you desire your vehicle to take you, you will begin to turn time into results.

Step 2: A Game Plan for Results—Your Daily Method of Operation

Develop a plan of action and stick to the plan; hold yourself accountable. Set specific goals and priorities. Develop a daily method of operation and put it on paper. Know exactly what your plan is and follow through. Put your specific goals and actions on paper and go over it nightly to hold yourself accountable. This will assist you to stay on track. Chart your time. I ask my clients all of the time to tell me what they have done in the past few days, and very few can ever recall what they have done. When you put your game plan down on paper and follow through on your intentions, your productivity and the way you manage your time will greatly improve. In the time you allot to propel you to your goals, do what will bring you the greatest results long term. At least 80 percent of your time should be devoted to prospecting and recruiting new customers in the early going. Entrepreneurship requires momentum to create compounded results. Momentum is created through simple disciplines factored consistently over a long period of time. In the beginning, your weekly goal is usually to recruit one person per week to your products, services and opportunity. This would be a total of 52 clients per year that you personally enrolled, not counting the number your organization produced. Eventually, your weekly goal will increase to two new people per week, totaling 104 new people per year you personally recruited. This only happens with consistent effort seven days a week over a period of time. It doesn’t happen overnight. It is a process to collect the payoff. Don’t seek perfection; seek efficiency at what you do.

Step 3: Develop New Thought Patterns and Creative Habits

The books you read, the tapes you listen to and the people you spend time with are all components of your reality. As you go through the process of success, the people you meet and situations you create will change as you change and grow. It is important to begin spending time with people who empower you and to detach from those who are disempowering. It is difficult to soar with eagles when you rest on the ground with turkeys. Start studying successful people and watch what they do. Interview successful people whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself. I have spent the last 15 years poring through books and tapes on self-help, motivation, investing, money and spirituality, and I have attended hundreds of seminars and workshops, all for the purpose of becoming a better person. I have learned to let go of old self-limiting thoughts and doubts, forgiven myself for past failures and challenges, and, most important, have forgiven others who may have harmed me. The thoughts you think today will be a large part of what dictates your future.